Santa God Is Coming To Town

It’s that time of the year again. And in case you weren’t aware, the shopping centres will be pumping out musical reminders of that. On high rotation would be one of the classics, the one that reminds us that there’s a jolly red-suited stalker coming around. I’m of course referring to “Santa Claus Is Coming To Town”, the most overt psychologically manipulative parenting song I know of.

What’s interesting about this song isn’t just what it says about “Santa” but what it says about how some people regard God. That’s right, there’s a parallel. 

Santa God

If you think about it, the song refers to Santa having a God-like knowledge about you. In real time. A slightly creepy concept if he has the kind of agenda the song claims he has.

Isn’t that the way some people view God? This is especially the case when you consider that Santa’s attitude is supposedly dependent upon your performance. Some people think that God has exactly the same sort of conditional attitude.

In Reality

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”
John 3:16

The reality is of course quite the opposite. The whole reason for the season is God’s unconditional love. God doesn’t just know “if you’ve been bad or good”, He actually knows we’re all bad. To the core bad.
But He loves us anyway and gave us all the greatest gift possible. The only condition on it is that of any gift, our acceptance of it.

Lastly, like God, Santa suffers from the distortion of the truth. The real Santa, Saint Nicholas has been twisted into his current be-good-for-mummy-&-daddy form.

So, enjoy the song for its mirth and silliness but this Christmas, remember exactly who really came and will be coming to town.

Image by Thomas Nast, 1881.

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